Various methods are known for embedding chips into a clear plastisol in order to make decorative inlaid patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,826 issued Apr. 3, 1984 to Armstrong World Industries, Inc describes translucent or transparent chips, having a thickness dimension not less than the thickness of the layer of material, applied to the surface thereof; the material is warmed and the structure is consolidated to push the chips down into the layer of material until they contact the underlying surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,691 issued July 15, 1980 to Congoleum Corporation describes a method for making decorative inlaid types of resilient sheet materials by spreading the chips onto the wet plastisol layer as a full coverage; the excess of chips are then removed and the remaining chips are pressed into the plastisol using calender devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,020 issued Dec. 27, 1988 to Tarkett Inc. describes a process for making sheet vinyl covering materials by first depositing resinous particles on a wet ungelled layer of PVC plastisol or organosol, removing the excess and then passing the sheet between a heated, cylindrical surface and a means for gradually and uniformally increasing the contact pressure between the cylindrical surface and the coated surface of the sheet.
In the methods of the prior art, especially with the inlaids described in the Congoleum patent, it is not possible to evenly distribute the particles on the surface less than full coverage. It is therefore difficult, in some instances, to see the printed design which usually is defined on the inlaid; further, each chip does not appear as a single particle. In the case of the inlaids of the Tarkett patent, air is entrapped in the resinous porous particles during the embedding step.
It has been found that some products on the market are stiff; in other cases, they are difficult to fold in corners and at the perimeter thereby making them difficult to install.